We are a group of civil society activists and researchers who are concerned about public transportation in Hyderabad. We want a mass rapid transit system that includes the buses, trains (MMTS/Metro), sidewalks and cycle paths. But the proposed elevated metro will not meet these objectives.

Friday, December 13, 2013

The following news item refers to the breaking of a 1000 mm diametre main pipeline carrying drinking water to Hyderabad city by the metro construction near Moosapet. For several hours the water gushed out and flooded the area.At the time it was broken by the drilling, there was an estimated flow of 3000 cubic metres per hour. Due to this break down, water supply has been stopped today in several localities (Eenadu, 13 Dec, 2013).
(It may be recalled that the L&T company, which bagged the metro contract, has been conducting soil tests for the last three years along the metro corridors. This incident proves how inefficient the L&T has been in undertaking the works in a scientific manner.)

A consortium of banks led by Axis Bank and India Infrastructure Finance Company
(IIFC) has slapped legal notices on Delhi Airport Metro Express Line (DAMEL), a
private-public partnership between Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and
Reliance-Infra, for non-payment of bank loans. The project has turned into a
non-performing asset. This comes as a double blow for DAMEL, which is already
engaged in a legal dispute between DMRC and Reliance-Infra.

DAMEL
carries a little over 10,000 commuters between Shivaji Stadium and Dwarka, and
halts at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to help commuters avoid
traffic. But DAMEL now has nobody to take responsibility for its liabilities.

According
to DMRC, which is now operating the airport Metro line, the 54:46 partnership
between Reliance-Infra and DMRC failed to pay interest for the loans from the
consortium of banks since March 2013. Delhi Airport Metro Express Private
Limited (DAMEPL) borrowed Rs 1,800 crore from Axis Bank-led consortium and Rs
350 crore from UK-based IIFC after the company bagged the contract in 2009.
DMRC spokesperson issued a statement that liability to pay interest for the
loan rests with DAMEPL even though Reliance Infra has invoked the termination
clause to the agreement.

On
the other hand, Reliance-Infra issued a statement that its concessionaire
DAMEPL “has terminated the Concession Agreement through termination notice
dated October 8, 2012, owing to DMRC’s Event of Default.” It further
stated that DMRC has already taken over the entire project with effect from
July 1, this year with all existing contracts, employees from DAMEPL. Since
July 1, DMRC has been collecting all the revenues while the arbitration
proceedings are going on under Railway Board.

Earlier
this year, the Comptroller Auditor General of India had pointed out that
Reliance-Infra has diluted its stake in the concessionaire, a charge strongly
refuted by Reliance Infra (see‘Profitable Exit’).
Since 2012, DAMEL operations came to standstill until January 2013 when
Reliance-Infra pointed out some serious structural defects in the Metro line
owing to which DAMEL trains had to slow down. While DMRC claims the faults were
repaired, Reliance-Infra wanted to back out of the project citing losses.

It appeared in the media today that the MDs of HMR and L&T Metro, Mr. NVS Reddy and V.B
Gadgil are reported to have said that they have not taken an inch of excess
land for the metro, and in fact there is still a shortfall of 22 acres or so.

We
would like to reiterate that they have already taken 71 acres of excess lands
which are not mentioned in the Concession Agreement. We challenge them to
disclose the full details and put up the same in their websites. We are
prepared for a public debate on this. This is nothing but a daylight robbery of
precious public lands worth thousands of crores of rupees. We are talking about
the land details listed in pages 179-80 of the Agreement and not about the
lands meant for depots and maintenance at Nagole, Miyapur and Falaknuma. They
are trying to hoodwink the people by covering up these issues, and only talk
about the completing of the Nagole-Mettuguda stretch etc. etc.

NVS Reddy says that those who have
been making allegations in the last five years have not proved anything. In
fact it is the other way round. All allegations made by us have been proved.
The fact that NVS Reddy refuses to appear on a common platform with us for a
debate itself is a proof of our correctness in this.

1. We would
like remind NVS Reddy and the public that the Order of Justice L. Narasimha
Reddy of AP High Court in March 2012 justifies our position that there is no
transparency in this project. We quote from the Order:

-“The effort of the
HMR appears to be, to shield or immunise itself from any plausible
objections, and unfortunatelythe
State, in its anxiety to spread a red-carpet to a private agency, has chosen to
violate and break the law, enacted by itself.”

-“there is a serious lacunae in the very launching of
the project, under the A.P. Tramways Act; though it is almost a full-fledged
railway.”…”it is totally impermissible to establish a ‘Railway’, in name,
structure and purport, under A.P. Tramways Act.”

-“Metro Rail was granted on earlier
occasion in favour of an agency, in a similar clandestine manner, keeping the
entire project away from public scrutiny.”

-“Acceptance of the
contention of the respondents would lead to disastrous consequences.A scheme, which involves transfer of
vast extents of Government land, acquisition of large number of private
properties, dislocation of the road transport system for a considerable time,
conferring of the largesse of a high magnitude upon a private agency, cannot take
place without reference to any public opinion.”

2. We would like to question the two MDs how
they are going to provide parking and circulation for stations in those places where
Osmania University refused to part with lands? How are the passengers in those
areas going to benefit with the lands given at Raidurg?

3.
Why should the public ask for every small information through RTI which NVS
Reddy is suggesting? This itself shows the high-handed attitude of the metro
MD. On one hand, they are claiming this project to be the most advanced
technologically but, on the other hand, they don’t want to put the important
details like Concession Agreement, DPRs, land allocations and station designs
on their websites. This itself shows how dubious their claims and methods are.

4.
They are only talking about the lands of Old Gandhi Hospital and at Raidurg as
compensation for the OU lands. This is only a half-truth. What about the 2
acres of land of Water Board at Yousufguda, 8 acres at Erramanjil, 10.25 acres
of GHMC lands/properties, 17 acres of HMDA, and small amounts of lands at a few
other places. These are not part of the Agreement. If not land robbery, what
else is it?

5.
The MDs are claiming that the project design was finalized in the pre-bidding
stage itself, hence it cannot go underground at this stage near heritage
buildings. If so, we would like to question them why they are not sticking to
pre-bid design and are changing the alignment of Line 2 towards Old Gandhi
Hospital and extending the Line 3from Shilparamam to Raidurg? Nearly 25 acres
of lands are taken at these two places only.

That means, the two MDs have no problems with pre-bid
designs and are willing to make changes to grab prime lands but will not do so
to protect the historic heritage precincts. If not hypocrisy and malicious
intentions, what else is it?

6.
We would like to appeal to Shri KCR and TRS party that if they are serious
about protecting the heritage of the city, they need not wait for the metro to
be completed and then demolish it. If they are sincere about their claims, they
should demolish the piers NOW in front of the Public Garderns.

If the two MDs are serious about
establishing the transparency in the dealings of this project, we demand that
they put up in their websites all the details regarding –

-Concession Agreement,

-Detailed Project Reports,

-Lands promised in the Agreement and
lands allocated along with the location and extent,

-Complete designs of all the metro
stations along the three corridors (this project is known to have got the best
design award globally but the designs for several crucial metro stations are
not even ready),

-Complete designs of the intersections
of the Corridors with one another at three places.

If there is transparency and honesty in the affairs of
the project there is no need to indulge in publicity gimmicks by organizing
competitions in the name of “pick a click”, “Brand Ambassadors”, metro coach
exhibition etc. to hoodwink the public
especially the youth and students.

We would like to advise the so-called “brand ambassadors”
to read the Concession Agreement and understand it before competing in these
events. Otherwise, they would be spreading only lies and become pawns in the
hands of the metro authorities.

This is an externally shining project like “medi pandu” but, if opened, a lot of
muck will come out.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

In the news clipping in Telugu given below (published in Andhra Jyothy today -5Nov13), TRS chief threatened to demolish the metro if it causes damage to the heritage areas. I wish TRS is serious about it. Given below in English the main demands of the KCR's letter to the CM of AP.

In a letter addressed to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh (17 Aug 2011), president of TRS, K. Chandrasekhar Rao raised several issues relating to the elevated metro in Hyderabad. He demanded that the documents of the project be made available and be debated widely in an all-party meeting, civil society organisations and the experts. And regretted that no initiative was forthcoming from either the government of the metro authorities.

The government did not respond to this letter. When the metro works were started the TRS too did not make any noise at all! That was a big disappointment to the activists.

In the said letter he demanded that - (quoting from the letter) -

Hence we request you to kindly-

Hold open discussions on DPR and Concessional Agreement and other relevant reports and change the contents of the agreement to protect the government land and overall interests of people in terms of regulating the tariff

Change the alignment of corridor-2 to protect the historical monuments such as Sultan Bazar

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Press Meet against the Land Robbery by L&T Metro in Hyderabad. Blatant violation of Concession Agreement. Already 71.39 acres of land allocated in excess of what is promised in the Agreement. Where will it end? Government of AP is taking away the land from other Department and handing over the same to L&T. This is a real estate project in the garb of public transportation. The following persons addressed the press today (24October13): Dr. C. Ramachandraiah, Social Scientist, S. Jeevan Kumar, State President, Human Rights Forum, A.P.; Mr. B. Ramakrishna Raju, State Convenor, NAPM, A.P. and O.M. Debara, General Secretary, Forum for a Better Hyderabad. Read our full Press Release under the Downloads on the Home page of this blog.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Thoughtless and scandalous actions of the Hyderabad metro authorities are giving rise to new conflicts and tensions. Corridor 2 (from Jubilee bus station to Falaknuma) is the most useless route and is most destructive in the sense that many shops and buildings will be demolished on this route. The famous Sultan Bazaar is located on this route. In the present instance of the news item below, the route of Corridor 2 has been diverted towards the Old Gandhi Hospital which leads to demolition of many buildings including taking over of land of a church. The authorities are also eying on taking over about 10 acres of the hospital land for the L&T's real estate business. There is no any technical report or expert opinion for the diversion of this route.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

CR’s comment: Only
three malls now. More to follow. We have been saying this before. It’s like
building irrigation canals even before the dam work begins (eg. Polavaram under
YSR regime in AP). The very definition of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) is “Rail
and Real Estate” as per the Concession Agreement. Already the govt of AP has allocated
nearly 70 acres more of land that what is promised in the Agreement. What more
you need?

Panjagutta is already
a congested junction by all means. It is also a heavy pedestrian area but there
are no footpaths. Now the L&T malls will further choke this area. Where is
the transport planning here? It’s all real estate, my dear friends! Metro rail
is only a mask. Pursuing this kind of development model led by contractors and
companies (thru our political parties – with no difference in Regions and
Ideologies) is what has pushed Andhra Pradesh into the present crisis (on
division, unified AP).

L&T plans 3
malls-cum-multiplexes along metro rail corridors in city

Koride Mahesh| TOI, 28 Aug 2013, Hyderabad.

-----------------------------

Times view: The Khairatabad to Ameerpet Road is already chock-a-block with
multiplexes and shopping malls and adding more new ones will only add to the
chaotic scenes prevailing in the streets. Plans to construct malls and
multiplexes in the areas mentioned are also illogical, as there are several
screens within a few kilometres, especially in Punjagutta. Instead of spending
crores of rupees on multiplexes, authorities should invest more on traffic
management by building flyovers and sidewalks for pedestrians.

--------------------------
Hyderabad: Even before the metro rail tracks are put in place, project
developer Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has started moves to commercially exploit
parcels of land allotted to it along the three metro corridors. The
project developer has proposed to construct malls with multiplexes at
Punjagutta, Erramanzil and Madhapur. The L&T has applied for
provisional no objection certificate (NOC) from the state disaster response and
fire services department recently. Once the NOCs are obtained, the construction
giant might seek building permission from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation (GHMC).
Official sources said a mall, including a multiplex and office space, is being
planned on 70,127 square metres land, where government quarters were demolished
near Srinagar junction on the arterial Punjagutta-Ameerpet road. The land
was handed over to the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) last year. At
Punjagutta, the mall and multiplex would come up in one block, which would
have three basements, ground and five upper floors.L&T plans to build hotels, malls
Hyderabad: Eight screens will come up on fourth and fifth floors. An office block
is being planned in an area of 5,621 sq metres with three basements, ground and
six upper floors. Another multiplex has been proposed at Erramanzil, near NIMS,
where government quarters were razed for the metro rail project. L&T
proposes to put up a mall, including a six-screen multiplex, and another
multiplex and commercial building would come up opposite My Home Hub at
Madhapur. “We have inspected the sites on the request of L&T metro
rail and recommended provisional NOCs for malls,” regional fire officer P
Venkata Ramana told TOI.
As per the concessionaire agreement, the metro project
developer could exploit space up to 18.5 million square feet (sft). Nearly,
12.5 million sft would be required for metro rail depots and terminal locations,
while six million sft would be available for metro rail stations. HMR has
agreed to transfer 269 acres land to the metro rail developer for
executing the project. Of the total land, nearly 70% of the space was allocated
to the three depots and 57 acres of land at 66 metro stations (air space) would
be utilized for commercial exploitation.
L&T, which is eyeing transit oriented development
along the metro corridors, is likely to come up similar proposals for office
spaces, malls and multiplexes apart from hotels, service apartments, healthcare
facilities like hospitals, poly clinics, convention centres, theme parks,
entertainment zones and convenience retail at suitable places.
Meanwhile, both the fire services department and
L&T have not yet finalized fire safety plan at metro stations. The fire
department has offered to depute its senior officials for overseeing fire
safety measures at stations, but L&T wants to have its own trained
personnel. “In Delhi Metro, fire officials were deputed to train staff and
ensure safety at all metro stations, but L&T wants to have its own set up,”
a senior official of the fire services department said.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Hyderabad metro will be doomed after the state's division. Because, it is designed on
false projections and lies. It is aimed at giving more lands to the private
party for real estate development. It is premised on extracting more and more
concessions from the state govt. It will
become a huge millstone (gudibanda in Telugu) around the neck of the new T state. I will
post a more elaborate write-up later. Now the news item in TOI.- CR

HYDERABAD: Will there be any
impact on metro rail ridership if the state is bifurcated? The answer is yes. Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL)
officials fear it might impact the projected ridership for the metro rail,
which in turn might hit its fare box collection. Apart from this, the impact is
also likely to hit transit-oriented development and advertising revenue of
L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad). When the metro rail was designed a few years ago, the officials estimated
ridership could be 15 lakh per day by 2015 and might touch 22 lakh per day by 2025. The officials arrived at
the figure by taking volume of traffic, population and number of vehicles and
their growth per year into consideration. Bidders had also taken these figures
into consideration while quoting their bid amount for bagging the contract
during the bidding process.

However, analysts claim the projected figure might change if the state is
divided as growth of the city, floating population, vehicular traffic and other
figures might not be relevant as development might slow down. "Several
traffic studies of Hyderabad reveal that every year two lakh personal vehicles
were being added to the roads in the city. The total motorized trips are 35
lakh per day, including 61% two-wheelers, 21% autos, 15% cars and 3% buses.
Now, new vehicles and passenger trips will be less in the separate state,"
an official of the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD)
department said.

Infrastructure giant L&T had bagged the metro rail project in 2010 with an
approved cost of Rs 14,132 crore. The rail project is being implemented on
three corridors - Miyapur-LB Nagar, Jubilee Bus Station-Falaknuma and
Nagole-Shilparamam - covering a distance of 72 kms. The first two stretches
might be ready by December 2014 and commercial operations are likely to begin
in June 2015. The entire 72-km stretch is expected to be completed by July
2016. The concession period for the project is 35 years, which includes
five-year construction period, and could be extended by another 25 years.

Interestingly, theDMRC had
prepared a detailed project report for the metro rail project eight years ago
and estimated the traffic to be around 40,000 passengers per hour in peak
direction (PPHPD). However, the HMRL officials revised it to 60,000 PPHPD as
there was growth of traffic in the city. Initially, the metro train would have
three-car trains carrying 1,000 passengers each and later it would be six-car trains
for 6,000 passengers. The HMR has already announced frequency of the trains to
be 3 to 5 minutes during peak hours keeping in view of the likely ridership.

"The L&T can ask the state government to increase passenger fare
(freezed minimum fare of Rs 8) or seek more concession period to reach their
estimated revenues," another official said.W hen contacted for comments on the likely impact, Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR)
managing director NVS Reddy refused to comment on the issue.

Friday, June 28, 2013

My piece in the Times of India today (28 June) on the need to have a directly elected mayor with executive powers for Hyderabad. A group of us had a brainstorming session on this in the past and held a press meet also before the Corporation elections. As there was a constraint on the word limit, I could not elaborate on some issues. But the spirit is there. - CR--------------

Hyderabad has emerged as a
city of national and global importance and has been contributing immensely to
economic growth, employment generation and providing livelihoods for vast
sections of people. It is therefore imperative that cities like this are
governed well so as to provide high quality civic services like in other cities
in developed countries. What we need is an effective and good city government
headed by a directly elected executive mayor with a strong political
commitment, orientation towards reform in administrative and financial aspects
and who is accountable to citizens.

In the present set up, there
is no leader the citizens can look up to. The Water Board is headed by the
chief minister who has no time for it. Its day-to-day affairs are looked after
by a civil servant. Nobody knows who the board members are and when it meets (if
it meets at all). Whether it is highly iniquitous supply, poor quality or
irregular timings, the citizens have to run from pillar to post. Take illegal
constructions. The building regularization scheme (BRS), which when implemented
some years ago was supposed to be a one-time measure, was later 'revised' into
a building penalization scheme (BPS), thus ensuring that the illegal activity
continues.
Water bodies continue to shrink and vanish despite new laws. Less said the
better about the high profile metro rail project. Lands are being allocated to
L&T beyond the scope of and much more than what is listed in the concession
agreement, alignments are altered, heritage buildings affected etc, but there
is nobody to answer. Meanwhile, its promoters are on a brand-building bandwagon
spreading half-truths (and some untruths) to the people. For instance, the
project is known to have got an international award for best design while the
fact is that the designs are not yet finalized for several crucial junctions/routes.
All that the citizens have is an accounts officer heading the project who is
not accountable to the public at all. The quality of public transportation
continues to decline with no 'father' for the APSRTC to claim its rightful
place in the city.

All these factors are having a debilitating effect on
the quality of civic life. The citizens have to build up pressure on the
government and the political parties with a long term goal of far reaching
changes in the way the city is governed. The civil society has an important
role to play in this task. The long term goals should be: 1. Direct elections
to the mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; 2. Making the mayor an
executive mayor with adequate powers; 3. Giving effective administrative and
financial powers to the city government; 4. Making all the service providing
agencies in the city accountable to the city government (eg. public transport,
water supply & sewage, fire safety, environment etc., to mention only a
few).

Several experts in the field of urban governance in Hyderabad have deliberated
on these issues in the past. The city cannot be governed in the same old ways
if the situation has to be improved drastically.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Misleading the people of Telangana by lying. Hyderabad
metro MD promises that 40k jobs (out of 50k that would be generated) would be
reserved for Telanganites. Can he do that? One official says: "In reality,
the number of employees required ... is around 20,000. The inflated number
being assured by the metro rail authorities can later lead to unrest among the
local people apart from misleading the public." It is a PPP project and
the metro MD will have no say in recruitment.

HYDERABAD: A TRS-TJAC delegation on Wednesday called on Hyderabad Metro Rail
Ltd (HMRL) authorities and demanded that 80% of the jobs that the project will
generate should be reserved for people fromTelangana.
According to sources, when a delegation metHMRLmanaging director NVS Reddy, he assured that the
demand would be fulfilled. Reddy told them that the project would generate
about 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. and that they would not have any
hesitation in reserving 80% of it for the people of Telangana

The delegation that met NVS Reddy includedTRSSiddipet MLA T Harish Rao, politburo member
Sravan Kumar Dasoju and MLCsSwamy Goudand Mahmood Ali besides TJAC leaders Srinivas
Goud andAddanki Dayakar. The team reminded the metro
rail officials of the AP Public Employment (Organization of Local Cadre and
Regulation Direct Recruitment Order- 1975) Act, also known as Presidential
Order 1975, which reserves 80% of government jobs to locals. "We explained
the provision of the Act and also warned of an agitation in case our demand is
not met. Responding positively to our demand, NVS Reddy said that of the total
estimated 50,000 jobs, 40,000 would be reserved for locals."

However, according to a senior official in the municipal administration
department, the TRS delegation approached the wrong party in seeking an
assurance on job reservation as the Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities have no
say in the matter. "The metro rail project is an infrastructure project
being executed under public private partnership (PPP), and Larsen & Toubro
is the concessionaire for the project. HMRL has no role in the recruitment
because L&T has given the operation and maintenance (O&M) contract to
Keolis, a France-based public transport operator, which would hire people in
consultation with the concessionaire," said the official.

According to the official, HMRL has got it wrong with regard to the number of
jobs that the project is expected to generate. "In reality, the number of
employees required , including construction and operation, is around 20,000.
The inflated number being assured by the metro rail authorities can later lead
to unrest among the local people apart from misleading the public," said
the official.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Project and
Publicity. Quid pro Quo? Or What else? A big construction firm, L&T, is
'helping' in the design and supervision of constructing a swanky building as a
'goodwill gesture' for the Hyderabad Press Club in Somajiguda. You may wonder
why the L&T has developed so much love for the media. It is building
Hyderabad metro rail (HMR) which is mired in many controversies. It may also be
noted that L&T and HMR organised a lavish party recently for the
journalists in a place on the outskirts of the city (We published it on our
blog.) What else could be the motive if not getting favourable publicity? Read
the news item below.

Row over L&T gesture, Times of India,
Hyderabad, Apr 29, 2013.

HYDERABAD:
Plans to build a swankier press club at Somajiguda had run into controversy
with several members of the club objecting to the decision, which they say, has
been taken by the management without taking majority of journalists into
confidence. The new club's
design, comprising three floors, a centralised kitchen, a convention centre, a
press conference hall and two restaurants, has been planned by construction
firmLarsen and Toubro(L&T). While club authorities said that the total cost would be around Rs 4-5 crore,
they clarified that the construction major is helping the club in executing the
project as a 'goodwill gesture'. During an emergency general body meeting held
on Sunday at the club to discuss the plans, members raised questions on the
involvement of L&T in the project. Last week, L&T engineers gave a
power point presentation on the design of the new building to a selected few
members, which did not go down well with the remaining.

Larsen & Toubro is building the metro rail project in Hyderabad at an
estimated cost of Rs 14,132 crore. The project has been dogged with inordinate
delay and there has been numerous complaints on allotment of prime land at dirt
cheap rates. A case has been filed against the project by traders of Ameerpet,
saying that the alignment of the project has been changed unilaterally,
violating the detailed project report.

L&T has not been able to make inroads into the Sultan Bazaar area due to
resistance from locals. "There is no doubt that
the metro project has given L&T negative branding and I am sure they would
do anything that could boost their image in Hyderabad," an analyst said.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

I will be presenting my
paper "Elevated Metro Rail and Undoing the City - Social Activism
against a PPP Project in Hyderabad" in the Annual Conference of the
Association of American Geographers in Los Angeles, USA during 9-13 April. It
is the largest gathering of geographers in the world. About 7000 scholars from
the discipline of Geography and other related fields will participate in the
conference.

I will also be a panel speaker in a special session in honour of Prof. Neil
Smith, a well-known leftist geographer, who passed away recently at the City
University of New York. The session title is: "Geography Towards
Revolution for Neil Smith - Part V: Radical Geography Roundtable
Discussion". I will also focus on the metro project, the concession
agreement, real estate, lack of transparency, the High Court Order etc. in this
special session also.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The AP budget provides Rs. 500 crore for the ongoing metro rail for the financial year 2013-14. There has never been any shortage of allocations in the budget for this mega project. But the long neglected and awaited phase II of the MMTS (multi-modal transit system) gets nothing. It was reported in one newspaper that an amount of Rs. 17.5 cr was allocated for MMTS while one paper reported that there was no mention of this at all. Non-allocation of money for MMTS once again indicates that public transport and mobility of people in Hyderabad has never been a priority for the state government. In the last several years some paltry amounts have been allocated in the budgets but there is no evidence of spending that money.

(Photo: From a newspaper, no date available)

It may be recalled that MMTS trains are operated by the Indian Railways on the existing railway tracks. The phase I was completed in August 2003 with an investment of about Rs. 200 crore on a length of 40 km carrying about 1.5 lakh passengers everyday. These trains now connect Falaknuma-Kachiguda-Secunderabad-Begumpet-Lingampally and also Nampally-Lingampally. This is one of the cheapest modes of transportation and has become very popular with the commuters. It is a joint venture between Indian Railways and AP state govt with a share of 2/3rds by the latter.The phase II of this project covering 70 km with a cost of about Rs.600 crore should have been completed by 2005. It would have connected Shamshabad, Gatkesar and Medchal on the outskirts with the city core. Ever since the metro rail project came to the centre stage in 2005 successive state govts have not shown any interest in allocating money to this project. Hyderabad city requires all modes of the transport to be improved and integrated over a period of time. But now, for the sake of the metro project, all the alternative/existing modes of transport are either neglected or downgraded. That is the tragedy of the present times. That shows the real nature of the metro rail project.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

While the Hyderabad Metro work starts in full swing, the city public transport which was to be strengthened by the MMTS - esp Phase II activities, gets a meagre allocation of Rs 30 Crores. How many such budgets we see like this without much or no allocation ? While authorities keep on talking that MMTS is one modes of transport which would be complimenting Metro - Where is that shown in action ? With so many MPs from AP / Hyderabad - not a single person is willing is take this up cause ... This has been a case of abandoned baby. While they talk about Rs 20,000 crores for the Metro, case of Rs 750 crores suddenly becomes problem for MMTS. Does this not show that is being sidelined ? - Is this not a clear case for those who claim that MMTS is being improved and is going to compliment the Metro ? At this moment i get reminded about the "Competition Clause" in the agreement of HMR.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

This is only the beginning as the metro works started in bits and pieces. "Call it the price you have to pay for development or just a colossal test of patience, fact is that ever since the metro work construction has begun in the city, neverending serpentine rows of vehicles, constant honking and road rage has become everyday reality of every Hyderabadi" says the news item in Times of India, Hyderabad Times, 9 Feb13. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JSC8yMDEzLzAyLzA5I0FyMDI5MDA%3D). Srividya
Vemuri, a corporate professional, who commutes from Uppal to Gachibowli, has
also found relief in local trains. “Travelling from Secunderabad to Hitec City
via road is a two-hour journey as opposed to a swift 15 minutes by MMTS. I’ve
cancelled my office cab and prefer going this way. It’s cheaper too,” she says.(CR- The HMR is campaigning that the inconvenience is only temporary. But the so called temporary can be a very long time. The Hyderabadis' real taste of this 'development' is yet to come.It may be noted that MMTS is a local train service. It should have been strengthened by adding more services and completing a second phase, all in less than Rs. 600 cr. But the state govt has not shown any interest in this. Only on the expensive metro mega project.) (Photos courtesy: The Times of India, 9 Feb 13.)

Saturday, February 2, 2013

This is just to share
on the tactics employed by the Hyderabad metro authorities (govt’s HMR and the
private L&T) to promote an image for the metro in the city. This has
nothing against the participants in the so called ‘interaction’ as we have a
lot of good friends in the journalist fraternity.

On 20th
January, the metro authorities invited many journalists for an ‘interactive’
session. It was not in their office in the city but at Taramati Baradari, a
place known for cultural shows and partying on the outskirts of the city. What
followed was less of interaction and more of drinks and dinner (with some dance
by the chiefs of the HMR and L&T metro). We are
reproducing below an item in the Times of
India, Hyderabad, 22 January 2013 under the title CHATPATA (image also inserted below the text).

“The NVS-Gadgil show ““It was supposed to be a serious interaction (or
so said the invite) with NVS Reddy and V B Gadgil over the future of metro rail
in Hyderabad. But to everybody’s surprise, the event organised at Taramati
Baradari over the weekend turned out to be comical with the Hyderabad Metro
Rail chief deciding to entertain his guests by shaking a leg to some disco
numbers being played by an orchestra team that had been especially brought in
for the occasion. If that wasn’t shocking enough for the invitees, Reddy was
soon heard crooning some Telugu folk songs (written to promote the metro rail)
in his not-so-melodious voice leaving the gathering to wonder just what the meet
was all about. The pool side party got even more colourful with the L&T CEO
joining in, not to speak about the progress of the transport project, but
render a peppy English number for his audience. That the duos’ show didn’t go
down well with many was evident from the disgusted look on the faces of guests
who were seen cursing themselves for landing up for the alleged conference.
Some others, however, found solace in the delicious spread served up hot and
spicy! “ (Note: NVS Reddy is the MD of HMR and
V.B. Gadgil CEO and MD of L&T Metro Rail.)

No
wonder, one reporter was probably so much impressed with the drinks and dinner
that he likened the metro pillars with “beautiful girls playing under the
moonlight” in a Telugu daily. Now the L&T is making promotional films to
project an image for the metro. It is inviting students, executives, senior
citizens, housewives, and others to become Brand Ambassadors for Hyderabad
Metro Rail. It is ‘your chance to become a celebrity’, says half-page advts in
the local news papers in early January.

It
may be noted that the Hyd metro construction is going on in full swing in two
stretches of 8km and 12km where the roads are already very wide. The citizens
will start experiencing the traffic nightmares when the construction enters
beyond these stretches and when hundreds of shops will have to be demolished.
That will take some more time before which the authorities are trying to create
and promote graphically designed images for the metro.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

As it is, an elevated corridor itself makes the streets ugly in the
thickly built core areas with the corridors at heights of 40-70 feet. Now,
imagine if the corridors at such heights have overhead electric cables to run
the metro rails (like the normal Indian Railways). What happened to the tall
claims of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and L&T officials that this metro
will be the most advanced in India? The story of HMR getting more bizarre as the time passes!

The latest in the metro
rail technology is to supply electricity through a Third Rail that runs between
the two tracks. The moving train derives power from this Third Rail. The Delhi metro rail has opted for it
between Delhi and Gurgaon. The Bangalore metro rail too is operating on the Third
Rail technology. Further, this system
costs over 25 % less than the traditional AC traction system. Then what prevents
them from adopting it in Hyderabad? How can they claim this metro to be eco-friendly?
If not adopted, then what is the latest about this metro when they are adopting
outdated technology? Strangely, they are citing the lack of engineers and safety of passengers as reasons. Both reasons appear
false.

Imagine the streets of
Hyderabad and the three corridors criss-crossing the city over the flyovers and
railway lines. At three places, the metro corridors themselves have to cross
over each other (Ameerpet, Patny and Kothi). Elevated corridors passing over the electric
lines above another corridor! At four places over the flyovers (Greenlands, Punjagutta, Nalgonda cross roads, HiTec city).
At eight places or so, they have to cross railway bridges, the prominent one
being at Malakpet.

Imagine at what heights
will the electric lines be? And in the thickly built streets, is it not
dangerous for the residences abutting the corridors (at 30 ft away) from those
electric cables? Doesn’t this indicate
that Hyd metro will be the ugliest metro in India? Isn’t it also true that the
concerned officials have been hoodwinking the public about its socalled ‘state of the
art’ technology?

We have been arguing
from the beginning that this metro is being built on lies and false
claims. We assure you again that we will prove right in the coming period also.